I regard Ricciardo as the front runner when Kimi decides to call it a day.
Not only is he a fast driver but he has such a winning personality.
He's Italian with an Aussie streak speaks the language and gets on with everyone.
A cool choice for Ferrari until someone from the academy makes the grade.

If Kimi was performing like last year, i think this would be amazing to have Dani Ric replace him, best possible choice... but Kimi so far has been very good and if he get's along with seb and helps than its the best combination. Hope both Kimi and Seb get even better as the year goes on and hope the in season development is on point this year not like last year. So yeah Hope early 2018 Kimi stays but dani Ric would be the best replacement if Kimi retires.

hockenheim 2018 / China 2018 : Never forget how quick Ferrari can lose it all, be humble.
Positivity doesn't win you championships, whining about people being negative makes you blind!
lol ignore the bitter old cows ;-)

Kimi needs to retire on high, if he wins a race this year will be great, if he lets us win the WCC, much better, but he is 39, we don’t want to keep him around any longer.

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Kimi is driving well & is competitive so far this year. Only he knows when its time to retire and I don't think he would just drive for the money.
His age well Alain Prost won his 4th WDC at 38 & Damon Hill was 36 when he became WDC so..................................

If Ferrari has the cars for WDC, WCC which it looks like it does, what's better? Having an experienced Kimi driving, or a rookie not taking advantage of what the car offers; because of inexperience. A F1 driver at 39 yrs. is in better physical shape than most any 29 yr. old, not into sports. 65 is normal retirement age! A good example is F2 young; great Leclerc. He comes to F1 with youth and winning F2 experienc on his side, but the Kimi experience he's yet to have, is obvious. Then there's always the F1 fans reasoning, "It's the car's fault" , or," It was the drivers fault!" or "The pits fault!" Kimi is a a proven champion in great shape, why are all the other drivers behind him, or yet to get on the podium? Oh ! It's the car!

Performance wise this season, there is no reason to replace Kimi... yet

Hmmmmm
Yeah,no doubt Kimi is great on one lap pace this year.
But......we had a front row lock out 2 times so far and he managed to lose positions in both races...
+he can't really overtake or put some pressure on the car ahead anymore...

Hmmmmm
Yeah,no doubt Kimi is great on one lap pace this year.
But......we had a front row lock out 2 times so far and he managed to lose positions in both races...
+he can't really overtake or put some pressure on the car ahead anymore...

Should Ferrari leave the old strategy of clear hierarchy between the drivers Ricciardo is probably the greatest choice. Seb and Daniel would eat out points WDC-wise but for the WCC they might be the quickest available couple.

A solid number 2 for the next two years would be Bottas. Give him a proper 2+1 contract with a good salary. He is not into politics and performs well enough. He was quicker and more solid than Massa through the Williams years.

e. But I would love to see Hamilton and Vettel on the same car. Hamilton is available as well.

Should Ferrari leave the old strategy of clear hierarchy between the drivers Ricciardo is probably the greatest choice. Seb and Daniel would eat out points WDC-wise but for the WCC they might be the quickest available couple.

A solid number 2 for the next two years would be Bottas. Give him a proper 2+1 contract with a good salary. He is not into politics and performs well enough. He was quicker and more solid than Massa through the Williams years.

e. But I would love to see Hamilton and Vettel on the same car. Hamilton is available as well.

Bottas is a very slow driver, Raikkonen is much better than him but Raikkonen is no longer a Sunday driver, you could give him 100 laps fresh tires and yet he won't make an overtaking move.

Ricciardo is the only logical choice, is fast enough to get points for WCC. And Hamilton is not available, Hamilton likes to drive for the fastest car, he cannot leave Mercedes, he isn't a team builder like Schumacher or Vettel. The reason for his success was Rosberg's setup data. Because he is a naturally faster driver than Rosberg, he got more success than Rosberg but now that Rosberg is gone, Hamilton is struggling to find the right setup. Besides that, he wouldn't want to partner Seb in his lifetime after getting beaten from drivers like Button, Rosberg and now Bottas. Partnering Seb would mean ultimate embarrassment for Hamilton and that will lead to his retirement.

Bottas is a very slow driver, Raikkonen is much better than him but Raikkonen is no longer a Sunday driver, you could give him 100 laps fresh tires and yet he won't make an overtaking move.

Ricciardo is the only logical choice, is fast enough to get points for WCC. And Hamilton is not available, Hamilton likes to drive for the fastest car, he cannot leave Mercedes, he isn't a team builder like Schumacher or Vettel. The reason for his success was Rosberg's setup data. Because he is a naturally faster driver than Rosberg, he got more success than Rosberg but now that Rosberg is gone, Hamilton is struggling to find the right setup. Besides that, he wouldn't want to partner Seb in his lifetime after getting beaten from drivers like Button, Rosberg and now Bottas. Partnering Seb would mean ultimate embarrassment for Hamilton and that will lead to his retirement.

Bottas is very slow, what? Qualis are 2-1 for him against Ham this season, 4-1 in last five races. Performance-wise Bottas was much closer to Hamilton than Räikkonen was against Vettel in last full season.

Hamilton holds the pole position record of all times. A very slow driver couldn't beat him like ever.

It is Ricciardo who seems to be bit slow when compared in terms of pure speed against Verstappen.

Oh and Hamilton was pretty quick last season without Rosberg's input. Fastest car at the moment is Ferrari. Should the trend continue towards our side Ferrari is definitely an option for Hamilton.

Ricciardo would be a good fit for Ferrari, although he never seems to have made a big deal of his Italian heritage, my main worry would be whether he and Seb will be able to keep a lid on their rivalry! RIC is the ideal choice for a Kimi replacement, the other protagonists from the FDA are not yet ready in my very humble opinion.

Bottas is very slow, what? Qualis are 2-1 for him against Ham this season, 4-1 in last five races. Performance-wise Bottas was much closer to Hamilton than Räikkonen was against Vettel in last full season.

Hamilton holds the pole position record of all times. A very slow driver couldn't beat him like ever.

It is Ricciardo who seems to be bit slow when compared in terms of pure speed against Verstappen.

Oh and Hamilton was pretty quick last season without Rosberg's input. Fastest car at the moment is Ferrari. Should the trend continue towards our side Ferrari is definitely an option for Hamilton.

What makes you think Ferrari is the fastest car at the moment? Just based on the qualifying you saw in China? Mercedes did a 1.31.6 this year, last year also they did a 1.31.6, their car and engine is better than what was last year at the same point, the result was due to them not getting enough grip out of ultrasofts. You would assume that Mercedes car + engine is at least 6 tenths faster than their car 12 months ago on the same track, that already is faster than what Ferrari did.

When Hamilton doesn't perform, his pace is awful so that doesn't make Bottas any better. He will still remain a slow driver. Hamilton holds the pole position record because of the car he drove for the last 4 years which was unbeatable. His performances before 2014 were quite average, the reality is when competition increases, Hamilton is nowhere to be found. McLaren themselves said in the latter part of 2011 that they had a better car than Red Bull and said that Vettel must be a brilliant driver that he was taking poles and wins in what was the 2nd best car.

This is what McLaren said in late 2011:

McGrath added that beating qualifying master Sebastian Vettel will be crucial if McLaren is to be successful in 2012, particularly as its analysis indicated that the raw pace of last year's MP4-26 was superior towards the end of the season despite Red Bull and Vettel's run of poles.

"He must be a brilliant driver, because by the end of last season we definitely had the best car and he was still whupping us," McGrath said. "We're trying to figure out exactly what he's doing that's so good. How does he pull out that fast qualifying lap every time? We think it's driver skill. There's no trickery on the cars, he just gets more out of it than we do."

His performances before 2014 were quite average, the reality is when competition increases, Hamilton is nowhere to be found. McLaren themselves said in the latter part of 2011 that they had a better car than Red Bull and said that Vettel must be a brilliant driver that he was taking poles and wins in what was the 2nd best car.

Agree

Seb is a very intelligent driver. He uses his brain how on earth did he keep Botas behind him in Bahrain with tyres that were shot????

What makes you think Ferrari is the fastest car at the moment? Just based on the qualifying you saw in China? Mercedes did a 1.31.6 this year, last year also they did a 1.31.6, their car and engine is better than what was last year at the same point, the result was due to them not getting enough grip out of ultrasofts. You would assume that Mercedes car + engine is at least 6 tenths faster than their car 12 months ago on the same track, that already is faster than what Ferrari did.

When Hamilton doesn't perform, his pace is awful so that doesn't make Bottas any better. He will still remain a slow driver. Hamilton holds the pole position record because of the car he drove for the last 4 years which was unbeatable. His performances before 2014 were quite average, the reality is when competition increases, Hamilton is nowhere to be found. McLaren themselves said in the latter part of 2011 that they had a better car than Red Bull and said that Vettel must be a brilliant driver that he was taking poles and wins in what was the 2nd best car.

This is what McLaren said in late 2011:

What a bunch of BS. Bottas is not slow by any means. A solid second driver for all the top teams. Much faster and more consistent compared to Massa for example.

Hamilton destroyed Alonso mentally on his debut year. The whining spaniard escaped to Renault and the WDC was there for Hamilton in next year. Ok, the closest rival was Felipe Massa so whatever.

E. Ferrari is the fastest car atm. Two poles in last two races. Even a sluggish qualifier like Kimi could perform well. The race in China was disgusting because of the work on the pits. "Very slow" Bottas took the undercut for the 1st position and after the safe car Max destoyed Sebs race.

What a bunch of BS. Bottas is not slow by any means. A solid second driver for all the top teams. Much faster and more consistent compared to Massa for example.

Hamilton destroyed Alonso mentally on his debut year. The whining spaniard escaped to Renault and the WDC was there for Hamilton in next year. Ok, the closest rival was Felipe Massa so whatever.

E. Ferrari is the fastest car atm. Two poles in last two races. Even a sluggish qualifier like Kimi could perform well. The race in China was disgusting because of the work on the pits. "Very slow" Bottas took the undercut for the 1st position and after the safe car Max destoyed Sebs race.

I would say Bottas is similar to kimi
All in McLaren vs hamilton was a McLaren vs Alonso, so please don’t mix things